OVER 30 MILLION WOMEN WORLDWIDE ARE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA. WE CAN’T IGNORE A NUMBER THIS BIG.

Women’s brains are more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease and other problems associated with cognitive function. Women are twice as likely as men to have Alzheimer’s and dementia and twice as likely to care for a loved one with the disease.

Yet, until now, there has been virtually no concerted drive to fund research on women’s brain health around the world and no global cooperation among women leaders.

Women’s Brain Health Initiative Canada, WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s USA, Alzheimer’s Research UK, and 21st Century BrainTrust® have formed the Global Alliance on Women’s Brain Health to raise awareness of women’s brain health challenges and significantly expand funding for sex-based brain health research and education, that benefits both men and women.

Worldwide, 46.8 million people have Alzheimer’s or a related dementia with numbers set to increase to 74.7 million by 2030 and 131.5 million by 2050. According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, the global cost of Alzheimer’s and dementia is estimated to be $818 billion, equivalent to 1.1% of global GDP or the 18th largest economy in the world.

The Global Alliance on Women’s Brain Health will define a scientific agenda, drive new funding for research, and convene scientific leaders to assure the most rapid and effective scientific strategies in women’s brain health. It will also raise awareness at the public and private level on the urgent health, economic and social tsunami that will result without gender-sensitive focus and investment.

Women’s Brain Health Initiative (WBHI) is a Canadian and U.S. charitable organization that funds innovative, gender-based research and creates unique education programs to combat brain-aging diseases that affect women. WBHI supports the first-ever Research Chair in Women’s Brain Health and Aging, recently awarded to University of Toronto’s Dr. Gillian Einstein, and produces MIND OVER MATTER® magazine, highlighting the latest scientific findings and the best ways for women to protect cognitive vitality. Care to join us?

WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s, a network of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, unites women across the globe to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Our growing network of women is impatient with the slow progress being made in the Alzheimer’s fight. Driven by our passion we are committed to disrupting current “business as usual” approaches to funding, research, and advocacy in order to bring Alzheimer’s out of the shadows and into the spotlight. We will aim to bring the energy and commitment from the Global Alliance to our other priority areas in driving public funding for research in gender sensitivity, clinical trial recruitment, lessening the burden of care and promoting dementia friendly communities. Because women won’t wait.

Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading dementia research charity, and the second largest charity funder of dementia research in the world. We are funding £26 million in world-class research at leading universities and research institutions across the UK and to date have funded nearly £62 million in research projects. Our goal is a world free from dementia. As research experts, we are committed to finding new ways to diagnose, prevent, treat and cure dementia. Our research strategy is targeted to deliver research that offers the most potential for health benefit. Increased and sustained investment in research is critical to help deliver the treatments and outcomes that will offer hope to people living with dementia and reduce the huge societal and economic burden.

The 21st Century BrainTrust® (21CBT) is a virtual research ecosystem designed to empower personal brain health and support early diagnosis using self-administered mobile applications for personal measurement and monitoring of cognition. Its’ mission is to engage a new generation of innovation: think new digital biomarkers, mapped using the power of self-administered cognitive testing as a sensitive, early screening tool for all brain traumas, Alzheimer’s and related dementias. 21CBT promotes novel technologies that offer low-cost screening capabilities for future prevention trials to facilitate enrollment as well as exploratory trial endpoints. The 21st Century BrainTrust® is a collaboration by the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative, BrightFocus Foundation, Cleveland Clinic/Lou Ruvo Brain Institute and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.